Walking a Straight Line
by Sk1dr0we
Summary: After Liam admits he slept with Amy, Karma refuses to talk to him and he goes to Shane for advice. Shian (Is that a thing?). Very AU, obviously.
1. Chapter 1

_**Author's Notes: **__This story is an idea I've been playing with for a while, and it's a nice change of pace from the slightly darker and more serious writing of "Falling Apart Together". Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading it!_

_**Shane POV**_

He was just about to take a shower when his phone played "Dancing Queen", a ringtone he had specifically assigned to Liam.

That was weird, Liam was still supposed to be at school. They were having some stupid social experiment, so Shane had decided he would be 'sick'.

He jogged back to where he had left his pants and tried to find his phone before the call would go to voicemail. He finally grabbed his phone and answered it.

"My favorite straight guy!"

"Shane, can you come get me? I really need to talk to you, in person."

"Uh, our big faction war hasn't ended yet, has it?"

"It's not like I haven't skipped class before… I just really need you now, please get over here."

"I'm on my way." Shane put down his phone, quickly tried to make himself look halfway decent and got his car drive to Hester High didn't take long, and soon he was pulling up in the school's parking lot. Liam was already standing there, but his posture was different than usual. His head was down and his shoulders slumped inwards, a far cry from his usually imposing figure.

As soon as Liam spotted the car he started walking towards it, keeping his head down. He opened the car door and climbed in. It was then that Shane got a good look at his face. It was red and puffy, and his eyes were still wet. He'd cried, that was sure.

"Shit, Liam. What happened?"

"Let's get out of here first, I'll tell you on the way." Shane nodded and turned on the engine. As they pulled out of the parking lot, Liam started talking.

"Karma knows. I told her last night, and she's furious. She didn't just stop talking to me, she even dumped Amy. If she's done that, I don't think she'll ever forgive me."

"What? Why would you tell her?"

"I don't know, you know I don't like secrets. I just decided I'd tell her, but apparently that was't such a good idea."

"_Wasn't such a good idea_? You told your girlfriend you slept with her _best friend_ just to hurt her and you're surprised she's mad at you? I might not be straight, but even I understand how stupid that is."

"I know, I know. Just please don't be mad. I can't lose another friend right now." Shane heard how vulnerable Liam's voice sounded and decided to be more supportive.

"Maybe she'll cool down, you just need to give her some time." Liam looked at him and his face hardened.

"To be honest, I don't know if I want her to forgive me. The trust is gone now, I don't think we'll ever go back to the way things were. Maybe it's for the best. I don't think I'm the one Karma wanted, not really. She was in love with the idea of me, just like I loved the idea of her."

"You're starting to depress me, Liam. You need to change, and then we'll go visit the nearest bar."

For once, Liam followed his advice without complaining. Shane dropped him off in front of his giant home and gave him a few minutes to change.

When he came back, he almost looked like regular, woman-charming Liam. He jumped in the car and tapped the dashboard twice.

"Let's go get drunk!". And so they did.

Shane was quite the expert on finding bars that weren't too picky about ID, so they didn't have any problem getting into a place where they could grab some drinks. Shane went ahead and ordered them some drinks that looked, smelled and tasted like nuclear waste but were guaranteed to get your buzz going as fast as possible. Liam had apparently already drunk a lot of the stuff, because his speech was slurring a tiny bit. That didn't stop him from talking as much as humanly possible though.

"I don't need a girlfriend. You know what I need? A true friend. Like you. _Yourrrr_ my friend."

"Yeah, I'm your friend alright. Otherwise I would be hitting on that hot guy over there and not sitting here consoling your sorry ass."

"I've always wondered: Isn't dating guys much easier?" Liam looked over at Shane, but directed his gaze at Shane's lips instead of his eyes.

"I wouldn't know, I've never tried dating girls." Well, except for some girl in kindergarten, but Shane didn't think that one counted.

"Lemme tell you, they're nothing but trouble. You're a lucky man, that's what you are."

"Yeah, tell me about it. Who wouldn't want to listen to the great Liam Booker's drunken rambling…", Shane joked.

"Well, I'll make it a little more interesting for you. Do you want to know a secret of mine?"

"Sure, enlighten me."

"I've always thought you were handsome." Well, that was unexpected. Shane glanced down and tried to make sense of what Liam had just said. Handsome could imply a lot of things, couldn't it?

Liam interrupted his thoughts by loudly taking another large sip of his drink.

"Do you think that's weird? I thought it was weird. But it's true, you look _gooood" _Liam pointed his drink at him while speaking.

"It is a little weird… I think you've had quite enough of those drinks, let me take that." As he took the glass from Liam, his hand lingered on Shane's for just a tad too long. It reminded him of a saying one of his boyfriends used to tell: 'There's no such thing as a straight guy, just a sober guy'. He used to say it as a joke, but there might have been some truth to it. He'd fantasized about Liam a few times, but those had been just that: fantasies. Liam probably needed to get home, they had school tomorrow.

"Alright Booker, let's get you back home."

"Just one more drink? I really like these drinks. They're _sooooo _good..." He was barely understandable now, so Shane just took his arm and tugged him away from the table. Liam protested weakly, but he eventually followed him.

The drive back to Liam's house was a bit awkward, Liam tried his best not to puke while Shane thought about the things he'd just heard. If it had been anyone else, Shane'd been sure of what those words would have meant. But Liam was just so… _straight _. He'd never shown any interest in Shane's love life, aside from being sympathetic after a breakup. Shane shrugged and turned his attention back to the road. Next to him, Liam had just fallen asleep, and his hand slipped down onto Shane's.


	2. Chapter 2

He pulled up in the driveway, careful not to make too much noise. The odds of Liam's parents being home were pretty low, but Shane wasn't taking any risks with his intoxicated best friend. He turned off the engine and slowly shook Liam, trying to get him to wake up.

"_Uhhh_, just a few more minutes…" Shane shook him some more, but it only resulted in protest. Shane's patience was running out, so he just dragged Liam out of the car. He forced him up, and finally Liam started walking on his own. Which, apparently, was rather hard. He bumped into everything, from the door to an expensive looking vase (which Shane managed to save with some extraordinary acrobatics) and finally into the window of his room. He managed to sit down on his bed, and looked up at Shane.

"I think I might have had the _tiniest _bit too much to drink."

"Oh really? Well, I can't tell, honestly. But you should probably hit the hay now, things will look better tomorrow."

Liam managed to sit upright and looked Shane in the eyes. "Things are looking pretty good right now." For a moment there, Shane'd been sure that Liam was going to kiss him. But then the moment was violently disturbed by Liam throwing up.

"Oh- _Shit_!" Shane decided he'd stay with Liam for the night, since neither of his parents were home. He could hardly leave his friend alone in this state, could he?

_**Liam PoV**_

A ray of light reignited his headache, and it was back with a vengeance. His mouth tasted like a minty trash can, and he was having trouble opening his eyes. On the other hand, he could now think about Karma without feeling like his heart was being slowly crushed.

What he'd done last night might not have been the brave or even the smart thing to do, but it had served it's purpose.

He stretched and got up. Well, tried to get up. His legs still weren't feeling ready to start the day.

Half walking, half crawling he dragged himself to the shower, where he tried to make himself halfway presentable. With the hot water running over him, he tried to remember what exactly had happened last night. He remembered telling Shane a secret, he just couldn't remember what it'd been. It kept bugging him while he put on some clothes and walked downstairs. He was greeted by the delicious smell of eggs and bacon. He hadn't expected his parents to be home, so this was pretty weird. He entered the kitchen and found Shane scrambling some eggs while somehow managing to look like a model from an Abercrombie bag.

Liam immediately remembered what he'd said last night. Fuck. He knew that he'd only put into words what he'd been thinking for months now, but that didn't make admitting to being attracted to your best friend any less embarrassing. Not just that, he also knew all too well that his parents would kill him if he even talked about being attracted to men.

Shane had noticed him, and waved. "Morning! I'm surprised you're even able to walk!"

"It's not exactly easy, I'll admit that." It was hard to focus on talking instead of on how Shane's lips moved while he talked. Then, a clock caught Liam's eye. "Shit, it 's almost 1 PM! We're supposed to be at school."

"Don't worry, I called and said we both had a funeral to attend. It's a bit worrying how easy it is to skip school, but I'm not complaining. How are you feeling?"

"I've been better, that stuff I drank yesterday was pretty lethal. Are you cooking?"

"Just for you! I'm pretty sure I failed miserably at the eggs, but the bacon looks edible."

Both looked pretty good to Liam, so he grabbed a plate. Shane passed him a fork and started talking again.

"So, how is the Karma situation?"

"I think I'm pretty much over her. It's quick, I know, but I'm happy with what I have right now."

"That's good, I guess. Anyway, I should be heading home. My parents are probably pretty worried about me…"

Liam walked him to the front door, but he was reluctant to open it. He didn't want Shane to go, and if he was honest with himself he knew why. Shane waited for a while and then opened the door himself, chuckling. "Still not totally awake huh?"

Liam knew that if he let him go now he'd never have the courage to do that what kept him up at night again. Shane walked out, and turned around for the bro-hug they usually did.

Liam leaned in, and found Shane's lips.

There was a brief moment where Shane pulled back in surprise, but then he returned Liam's kiss with passion. It was so completely different than anything Liam had felt before, but it just felt _right. _He'd spent all those years chasing girls to try and change himself, but this is who he was. This is what he wanted to be, where he wanted to be, with whom he wanted to be.

Right then and there, while he breathed in Shane's smoky odor, he felt happy.

_**Author's Notes: **__This story isn't something I'm particularly proud of, but I enjoyed writing it. I'm still experimenting with new writing styles to use in what has become my main story, so I'll be bringing out some more of these one/two -shots. I don't think I'll be writing another chapter for this, but who knows?_


End file.
